Oiling system for automobiles.



E. M. WHITE.

OILING SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLIGAT ION FILED JULY 29. 1911.

Patented Apr; 9,.1912.

ERNEST M. WHITE, QF GLOBE, ARIZONA.

OILING SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

Application filed July 29, 1911. Serial No. 341,299.

a novel construction, particularly applicable to the crank case of anengine such as those of the type commonly used on motor vehiclesl, forthe purpose of automatically providing an increased supply of oil forlubricating the various parts when the engine is ,inclined as inascending a grade; the increased supply being proportional to the amountof such inclination and the arrangen'l ent'being such that when theengine again assumes a levek position the amount of oil in activecirculation is shortly reduced to normal.

' It is further desired that the construction shall be such that whenthe front end of the engine is downwardly inclined, oil shall becollected in one or more supplementary reservoirs and thereafter be atonce placed in active circulation when the engine returns to a levelosition so that there is no danger of a fallure in the delivery of aproper amount of oil to the various parts requiring lubrication.

These objects and other advantageous ends I secure as hereinafter setforth, reference bein had to the accompanying drawings, in w ich;

Figure 1, is a vertical section of the lower portion of the crank caseof an engine illustrating my invention as applied thereto;

. Fig. 2, is a side'elevation of the crank case shown in Fig. 1,illustrating the piping for distributing the voil to the supplementaryreservoirs, and Figs. 3 and 4 are vertical sections, respectively takenon the lines a-a, and b--b, Fig. 1.

In the above drawings 1 represents acasting forming the lower portion ofan engine crank case and 2 is the crank shaft, in this instance providedwith four cranks to which are respectively connected rods 3, 4, 5-,.and6. -The lower portion of the crank case is in the form of a mainreservoir 7 wHose' bottom slopes from its front end 1 toward its rearend and has connected adjacent said latter end a pump 8 designed to drawlubricant from the deepest portion of said reservo1r.

Either integral with the structure 1 or independent thereof are foursupplementary reservoirs 9, 10, 11, and 12, inthe present instance inthe form of narrow containers of approximately crescent shaped sectionand extending transversely of the main casting 1, respectively under orin the plane of oscillation of, the various connecting rods 86. Each ofthese supplementary reser voirs has an opening 13 at its forward side topermit of the overflow of lubricant into the main reservoir 7, while atits rear edge there is provided a structure formed in'the presentinstance of a ledge 14 and a transversely extending artition 15constituting a pocket, which w en the forward end of the crank case israised, serves to catch and retain a certain amount of lubricant.

In addition, at the forward part of each of the supplementary reservoirsis a transversely extending ledge 16 and a transverse partitlon 17 whichin some cases is provided b the partition 15 and in other cases isdistinct therefrom, as indicated at 17. There is then formed a secondpocket designed to catch and retain lubricant splashed up by theconnecting rod when the forward end of the crank case is depressed.

Each of the various partitions 15 or 17 is of a definite height so as topermit of 'the overflow of oil after a certain amount has accumulated;there being in the case of the rearmost partition an opening 18 topermit of thisoverflow.

Bet-Ween the-ledges 16 and 14 of the two supplementary reservoirs 9 and10 there is a single transverse partition, although in the case of thetwo supplementary reservoirs 10 and 11 two partitions 15 and 17 areprovided, wit-h an opening between them; it bein' in most instancesimmaterial as to whici construction is adopted.

' For supplying oil to the various supplement'ary reservoirs, thedelivery end of the Under operating conditions, with the crank case ofthe engine in a substantially horizontal position, oil is drawn by thepump from the main reservoir 7 of the crank case and is forced throughthe pipes 18, 19, and 20 and thence to the various reservoirs 9, 10, 11and 12.

By what is known as splash lubrication, the various connecting rodsdeliver this oil to the crank pins and other parts requiring lubricant,the surplus oil escaping from the reservoirs to the main reservoirthrough the overflow openings 13. If now the front end of the crank casebe raised, as when the vehicle on which the engine is mounted isascending a grade, the oil, instead of escaping through the overflowopenin s 13, c0 lects in greater quantity within t e varioussupplementary reservoirs 9 and 10, etc., and also is retained b thepockets formed by the partitions 15 an ledges 14.

As a consequence there is provided for each connect-ingrod a body of oilin excessof that normally in active circulation and which in amount isproportional to the inclination -of the englne and hence in some degreelikewise proportional to the increased amount of work put upon saidengine by reason of the grade. There is thus applied to the partsrequiring lubrication a sufiicient amount of oil to maintain them inproper Working condition and as soon as the engine returns to itshorizontal position, the surplus oil previously collected is at oncereturned to the main reservoir throu h the overflow openings 13 where itis not 111 circulation. If, on the other hand, the forward end of thecrank case be depressed, as when the engine is descending a grade, thesupplementary reservoirs would temporarily contain but relatively smallamounts of oil and when the engine returns to the horizontal position itmight be compelled to o erate for an appreciable time without su cientlubricant for the various parts. By my construction, however, thiscondition is avoided, since as soon as the forward end of the engine isdepressed, lubricant .collects in the pockets formed by the ledges 16and the partitions 15 or 17 as the case may be, so that as soon asnormal conditions again exist, a body of oil is at once delivered toeach of the supplementary reservoirs from these pockets so that theconnecting rods and their associated parts receive ample lubrication.

It'is obvious that while my system is primarily intended for enginesused on motor vehicles, it is notnecessarily confined to engines of thistype, since it may be advantageously employed on engines or othermachines whose position varies sufficiently to render it operative.

I claim 1. The combination of a crank case having a main oil reservoir;a series of containers forming supplementary reservoirs and each havingan overflow outlet at its forward side; a pocket for each supplementaryreservoir placed to receive and hold oil when the forward end of thecrank case is raised; with means for causing oil to flow from the mainreservoir to the supplementary reservoirs.

2. The combination of a crank case having a main oil reservoir; acontainer fornr ing a supplementary reservoir, in position to deliveroil to a crank; said supplementary reservoir having an overflow outletat its forward side and being provided with a pocket placed to receiveand hold oil when the forward end of the crank case is raised; withmeans for causing oil to flow from the main reservoir to thesupplementary reservo1r.

3. The combination of a crank case having a main oil reservoir; acontainer forming a supplementary reservoir placed to deliver oil to thecrank and having an overflow; a pocket placed to receive oil when theforward end of the crank case is lowered and formed to deliver such oilto the supplementary reservoir when the crank case is restored to itsnormal position; with means for causing oil to flow from the mainreservoir to the supplementary reservoir.

4; The combination of a crank case having a main oil reservoir; acontainer forming a supplementary reservoir placed to deliver oil to thecrank; and having an overflow; a pocket placed to receive oil when theforward end of the crank case is lowered and formed to deliver the oilto the supplementary reservoir when said crank is restored to its normalposition; a second pocket placed to receive oil when the forward end ofthe crank case is elevated and thereafter to deliver said oil to thesupplementary reservoir when the crank case is returned to itsnormalposition; with means for causing oil to flow from the main reservoir tothe su 'plementary reservoir.

5. The com mation of a crank case having a main oil reservoir providedwith a series of transversely extending containers forming supplementaryreservoirs, each of 'said containers having an overflow at its forwardside and being provided with oil receiving pockets at both its forwardand its rear sides, said pockets being in position to cause one ofthemto retain oil whenever the crank case is longitudinally inclined tothe horizontal and thereafter return said oil to the main reservoir;with means for causing oil to flow from the main reservoir to thesupplementary reservoirs.

6. The comb nation of a crank case having a main reservoir; a series ofcontainers forming supplementary reservoirs; said containers each beingextended upwardly at one side so that they have a greater holdin canameto this spcificationfin the presence of paQcity when tilted in onedirection rom two subscribing witnesses.

their normal ositions than when tilted in the opposite di rection; withmeans for caus- ERNEST WHITE 5 ing oil to flow from the main reservoirto the Witnesses:

supplementary reservoirs. J. T. HARRINGTON,. In testimony whereof, Ihave signed my LESLIE BALLARD.

